One thing you need to understand is that just after giving birth, most women are a hormonal wreck. The sound of a baby crying made me physically ill for a few days. Watch her for clues about whether she can handle the crying at first, take baby to her to nurse if you can't calm him/her down, or take baby for a walk if necessary. It gets better after a few days, but the lack of sleep, pain, and change in hormones make the first little while challenging.
It takes about 6 weeks to iron out all of the difficulties with nursing...to get both mom & baby into the groove, get over soreness, etc. I cannot stress highly enough how much better breastmilk is for infants than formula is, so be as supportive as possible with her while she is going through the "I'll never figure out how to do this without getting sore" phase. It will pass. Do NOT push formula on her when she is crying about being tender. It will pass, and bottles in the first month or so can really undermine the nursing process. Remind her that this phase doesn't last forever, that women have been doing this since the beginning of our species, and that baby will be much healthier with breastmilk (fewer/no ear infections, etc.) Buy some Lansinoh ointment, get some help from someone who either has been through it before or is a professional lactation consultant.
Learn to smile and ignore any advice you get that you don't agree with, even if it's from your own mother. They mean well, and what they tell you is what worked for THEIR kids, but YOU are the baby's parents, YOU know this child better than anyone else (every baby is different), YOU have to deal with the consequences of good or bad parenting.
Before baby comes, fill your freezer with meals you can just stick in the oven or microwave. Buy a few packages of paper plates, bowls, cups, and don't feel guilty for using them the first couple weeks. You will want to make it as easy as possible for her to spend time taking care of baby and getting extra sleep. If you don't own one, buy a dishwasher. This was the nicest thing I got when I was close to having my second child.
Every day, give her at least a half hour of time so she can go soak in the bathtub or whatever she needs to do, without having to worry about baby. NEVER complain about it. At first, she'll probably feel like she's a bad mother or like something bad will happen if she leaves baby in the bassinet or play pen (we called that thing "baby jail") while you are gone so she can shower.
Do what feels right to you. You will learn what your baby needs. My firstborn screamed bloody murder the first night home when we put him in the bassinet to sleep. The next night, I pulled him into bed with us and he slept all night. He slept that way from then on, and let me get a good 8 hours of sleep from the very beginning. He was in a toddler bed in our room by 18 months, and in his own room by 2 and never gave us any problems whatsoever (didn't cry, get out of bed, just has always gone right to sleep.) My daughter didn't sleep through the night from day 1, but she pretty much followed the same routine as my son. Never gave us any problems. Every child is different. A child who feels safe will generally not give you too many problems with bedtime.
For newborns, I liked having lots of onesies, some mittens (the first few days some babies will scratch their own faces by accident), several of those bassinet liners (like a changing pad only bigger, I liked the larger size for diaper changes, and you need several because baby will get poop all over them with amazing frequency) and a few of those long nighties with the elastic at the bottom for bedtime (makes it a breeze to change a diaper at night.) And a swing was really really nice, it knocked my son out like a light (but my daughter HATED it, so we didn't use it for her.) Borrow one if you can, they only can use them for a few months, and if your kid hates it, you aren't stuck with an expensive, large item to trip over. And a sling or pack you can throw baby in, it's really nice to leave the house without having to bring a stroller all the time.
You don't need for a newborn: shoes, 2 piece outfits (like pants and shirts, you'll never keep them from riding up and exposing baby's back/belly), most of the goop & lotions people will give you in gift baskets (you just need some mild shampoo/soap, diaper cream, and maybe some corn starch.)
Finally, when you ask a mom for advice about newborns, you will find that they can talk on and on and on forever, as is witnessed by the above paragraphs. 😱 I had to just cut myself off, finally.
